Do they still have the laser/radar guided Always Hittmgunnery technology, where you know, they can hit you easily even with over the island shot? It is one of the pet peeves of mine, the bots have perfect gunnery solution every single time, unless you time your dodge, you'll be hit 100% of the time.

This has been my experience too, the main issue for me when I tank with a battleship in Narai is that too often I get hit with torps from planes because I don't have a cruiser close by to help with AA.
Most cruisers like to camp in the rear which is not a good idea as many have found out. The only cruiser that I have found that does really well staying way back, is the Russian T7 cruiser Shchors. If you have pretty good marksmanship, its long range rapid firing guns can throw out a hurricane of highly accurate HE shells, sinking DDs and burning down cruisers/battleships. Its guns are often referred to as "lasers" or "railguns" due to their extreme level of accuracy even at max range. And you have to stay back when driving the Schors as it is very fragile, has practically no AA firepower and turns very slowly.

Hah hah....nice one. I do have a story to share too, might seems like a brag but it is a true event.
I was playing Narai yesterday and this Fiji loudly proclaimed "I will kill the transport, ALONE!!!!!". This alone is fine by me, though the way he said it seems to imply that others better not touch those transports as he has "claimed them". Anyway, no big deal as I prefer to deal with the CV King in my AA spec Atlanta anyway.
When the time comes though, I noticed that he was staying way back and is very far from the transport. So I decided to handle the transports as the rest of the team was doing well, opened throttle to max and made a dash for the transport. You should've seen the whining from him as he was too far. I went in, sank all the transport and he sulked for the rest of the game.
With my engine still at max speed, I made a dash towards King. The unsupported BB sank but I managed to kill King too.
So yes, you CAN do it, kill transports AND kill King. You'll have to drive fast, shoot fast, and not slow down but it is possible. Took A LOT of damages from those ships in the harbor though because I didn't dodge to avoid slowing down.

Unfortunately, this is what most players do. They like to camp and hide behind the transports and other players to avoid being shot at, making the troop landing win rare. To be fair though, engaging multiple bots up front, all the while dodging torps and dive bombers, is pretty exciting and I think most players prefer a more leisurely pace by sniping from behind. This is also why most players prefer to kill the bot transports instead of going after the CV King.

I have, multiple times. It depends on the group you have and also the ship you happen to be sailing that game. I am most comfortable running operations in my Atlanta, which also has a 19 point captain so I tend to get 5 stars and manage the troop landing win more often with it.
I run A LOT of operations though, in fact, I usually do not play any other modes except operations. I may play a few co op games here and there to advance past tier 9 to tier 10 but the bulk of my game play is operations. Yes, even ones like the Ultimate F.U. (Frontier). I like figuring out and trying different tactics with different ships and see how they work.

Yes, I called it and you guys were idiots. The heal circle heals extremely fast in Cherry Blossom, and what on earth are you guys doing getting so heavily damaged anyway. The video poster even tanked for you guys by running into the illumination bomb. Normally, the team should do the 1st part, have a quick dip in the healing circle to heal up, then go in and kill everything.
And who is the moron who kept calling the video poster to retreat anyway? He's the only one doing it the right way. If you guys have went it, the scenario will be over even quicker and you can start a new one.

Don't mean to burst your bubble but I don't see anything outstanding about the game, aside from those idiots who held back at the last stage and that moron who kept telling you to get back, it is a pretty standard Cherry Blossom game.

I've been using this route 3 also, so far ok for sinking King but surviving after that is another matter. I've found good success with Atlanta, Fiji, Scharhorst, Lyon and Hood is ok too but I usually end up eating torps from the Phoenix after killing King when driving BBs.
New Orleans is not bad too, its AP shells can sink the Phoenix with a single salvo if timed right, and if you spec for AA and put on AA signal, does an ok job of shooting down some fighters (some will get through so you'll be bombed and have to dodge torps).
I have also changed the loadout for my Atlanta and New Orleans, focusing on AA and used AA signals, seems to work much better. I have noticed that most of my sinking is due to torps from planes or combined with torps from other bot ships. With a heavy AA focus you can kill lots of planes, making it much easier to dodge torps and bombs.

I agree that success rate has gone up significantly. While you will still get defeats, the number of 5 Star success win is now pretty good.
I see plenty of good players who know how to deal with each successive bot waves now and not just mindlessly charge the transports and ignore everything else. Even more encouraging is that I now see DDs doing really well in Narai.

That's not the worst. In one game, I saw a Myoko peel off the engage the transport so I thought great, I'll handle the middle then. Suddenly, that Myoko started retreating and sailing away because the DD appeared and engaged it, so it ran, a heavily armed IJN cruiser running away. I rushed back and killed the DD plus some transports but 1 transport made it out so we lost that 1 star.
That Myoko spent the rest of the game hanging back, afraid of his paint getting scratched.
It is sometimes odd to me that some human players are afraid to go 1-on-1 with bots.

Good post man, appreciate it. Route 2 was what I had been using and yes, the Nicholas will appear and spot you immediately. The Phoenix will follow it, and then the Lexington will send ALL its planes at you. Not a very fun situation, especially when you're alone because everyone else went to kill and farm the transport.
I'll try Route 1 next time, will also try a Fiji. Mine has a perm camo on it and I used it successfully if I went the transport side but I'll try Route 1 and see what happens.

I've only managed this partially, I was in the Ashitaka and going up the middle and King was spotted. I managed an "over the hill" shot salvo and managed to wipe out half its hp but it moved before my guns reload and was soon out of my line of sight unfortunately.
How does a good team kill it? Rush the middle and unload everything at it? I suppose with 2 or 3 BBs driven by good captains you can nail it quickly. My Ashitaka alone only managed 1 good salvo.

Been playing Narai and is generally ok but I find myself struggling a little if I peel off to try and kill the Lexinton CV named King. It has a destroyer and cruiser escort and what felt like a endless supply of torpedo and dive bombers; all of which will focus on you if you approach its exit route.
What's your strategy for dealing with King? I tried a variety of cruisers without good results, maybe use a battleship?

I think this is a fairy easy scenario and as the player community gets familiar with it, we'll see more successful 5 Star complete. I got 5 Stars pretty quickly, and had repeats of it too. 3 and 4 stars were fairly simple to get.
One thing I noticed though, some cruisers LOVE to farm those transport ships. I had one game in which a fella in the clan BROOKS driving a Boise insisted that he alone be allowed to farm those transport. An Atlanta ignored him, went ahead and shot up those transports, making the Boise guy fella really mad. Boise fella spent the rest of game spewing tons of "F" word and even cursed the Atlanta family to all die of cancer. I was in a Ashitaka in that game.
Some guys really take the game WAY too seriously.